My Father-In-Law cheated on my Mother-In-Law, they divorced, and now my Father-In-Law is still with that same woman. My Mother-In-Law has a a boyfriend now too. My Mother-In-Law has struggled deeply with the emotional trauma of my FIL’s betrayal. They were together for like 20 years or something. Anyway, my Future Sister-In-Law and BIL have invited my MIL’s boyfriend (he refuses to go bc he says it’s not right), and my FIL’s mistress/girlfriend. My FIL seems to want to bring his girlfriend to my Future Sister-In-Law and BIL’s wedding, but knows that this might upset my Mother-In-Law. My BIL insists on the girlfriend coming, and says that if my Mother-In-Law gets drunk and out of hand because of her presence, then he will ask her to leave. Doesn’t this all sound so selfish? I don’t think my FIL nor my MIL’s significant others should be there, especially considering the circumstances. My husband and I did not invite my FIL’s girlfriend to our wedding. It just seemed wrong, you know a slap in the face to my Mother-In-Law. Thoughts?

By the way, I’m not sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong because my FIL vented to ME about this. I always find myself in the middle of things.

I was recently at a wedding where the father of the groom’s new wife was invited but didn’t come. The couple getting married were quite upset about it – to the new wife she was trying to avoid any awkwardness, to the couple it felt like she only cared about herself and wasn’t interested in supporting their marriage. There was no infidelity involved so maybe the feelings were different. Are your Mother-In-Law and FIL’s new relationships likely to last? Are their new SOs considered part of the family? If so then I think both Mother-In-Law and Father-In-Law need to be able to deal with that fact, because this won’t be the last family event. I can’t imagine the hurt MIL felt about her marriage break up, but if the divorce has been finalised and she has a new partner herself it might be time to start dealing with the fact that this is reality now?

I’m sorry you’re being put in the middle, family politics is hard especially when it’s not even your family 🙁 I hope something can be sorted out so everyone is at least partly ok with the solution!